User reviews

Where to begin? Start with the script. The dialogue sounds like an after-school special. Paced like a snail on Xanax. Move along, for God's sake! Looking pensive and pained seemed to be the only direction given to the actors. "I'm in pain!" is the only line the teen offered to describe his depression...over and over. This kid's performance is just plain awful. How Laura Dern, Hugh Jackman and Anthony Hopkins got roped into this dog is a mystery, though Hopkins only logs about 5 minutes. By the film's conclusion, I didn't care what happened to any of the characters, I just wanted MY pain to end.

I attended the premiere at TIFF last night where Hugh Jackman, director Florian Zeller and writer Christopher Hampton were in attendance and introduced the film.

I want to start by saying that Florian Zeller's previous film The Father was my favorite film the year that it was released; that film is an incredibly honest and unique look at someone suffering from Alzheimer's that just may be the best film that has ever tackled the subject. Zeller took a stage play and made it cinematic in a way I've never seen done before for a play-to-film adaptation. It felt so real precisely because of Zeller's own personal experience of his father suffering from Alzheimer's.

Flash-forward to The Son and everything that was done so well in The Father is done so poorly here. One of the first scenes is the film is a conversation between Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern about how their teenage son Nicholas hasn't been going to school for over a month. I knew immediately the film was in trouble because these veteran actors come off as film school actors in a scene that is so awkward and stilted it must have been the one and only take they did. It didn't take me long to realize though that it's not the actors fault, it's the fault of a script containing some of the most unnatural and laughably bad dialogue I've seen in a long time.

This film is phony baloney. That may not be the most articulate way to a describe a film but if you see it, you'll agree it describes it perfectly. The subject of this film is teenage depression. Zeller did not say in his introduction if he or screenwriter Christopher Hampton had personal experience with their own children suffering from depression but I'm going to guess that they haven't. The entire film comes off as if the filmmakers knew absolutely nothing about depression and had never met or had a conversation with someone who was suffering from it. Everything in the film feels fake; fake family, fake dialogue, fake performances. A Hollywood take on an important subject. It's rife with false notes and dishonesty and completely lacks in any depth whatsoever. It feels like someone's clueless vanity project.

Here are the 3 main problems that completely tanked the movie:

1) Bad script. As previously mentioned, horrible unnatural dialogue. Writers who didn't understand their subject and apparently did not do any kind of research. This feels like a Boomer's take on Millennial and Gen Z depression and (surprise!) they don't get it. On top of the groan-inducing ending you can see coming a mile away for this type of film, the message is very muddled as well. The only thing that comes through clear is the theme of generational trauma and mistakes made by fathers are repeated by their sons. The film doesn't really have anything to say about depression other than "It's bad."

2) The film is told from the point of view of the father (Hugh Jackman) rather than from the son. As a result of this creative choice it makes the film about how hard it is to live with and deal with someone suffering from depression rather than how hard it is for someone who has depression to live and deal with it. The Father (2020) was told from the point of view of the person suffering from Alzheimer's so I'm dumbfounded that this film didn't take the same approach.

3) Zen McGrath's performance. I don't normally like to trash young actor's performances but this one is so bad it can't go unmentioned. It might actually be the worst part of this film. Every time he's on screen it's like nails on a chalkboard. It's a one-note performance where every line of dialogue in every scene is delivered exactly the same way without any depth or nuance. The purpose of his character is to generate empathy and compassion from the audience but his performance caused me to feel the complete opposite; I kept praying that something would happen so that I would have to see or hear him anymore.

Avoid this film like the plague. All I can say is that I feel really bad for Hugh Jackman. He's such a nice guy and he always tries so hard. He somehow keeps picking the worst indie projects to do and I hope he manages to land some good ones in the future. He deserves it.

This could have been a powerful film/story, but the kid who plays the titular roll of the son, Nicolas (Zen MacGrath), is one of the worst actors I've ever seen. I've never even been in a school play, but i'm 100% sure I could have done better in the role. The movie is so boring, but a strong performance out of the Nicolas character would have gone a long way toward improving it. That actor has only done small roles in Australia other than this. He is not an actor. It was painful watching him try.

The other actors did a good job, I dunno what else to say but I need more characters in this post.

You'd think that such an amazing cast would be enough to save a bad film but sadly not in this case. The dialogue was ridiculous so it's probably the script that should be blamed, not the director. Their conversations seem forced, not believable at all. The characters seem one dimensional, High Jackman is this super caring, super good dad, with a very cold and moody wife. His son who suffers from depression only says he's in pain and keeps repeating it over and over again without going into any details of what's actually troubling him. I understand depression can be difficult to explain but youd think there are more ways to express how you feel other than saying "I'm in pain". That young actor was also probably the worst thing about this movie, 90% of the time he just looks like he's smelling his own fart. All his lines are delivered in the same flat monotone way. Not a movie worth watching.

I'm embarrassed for these wonderful actors. I never realized how important a script is to making a good film. Good writing inspires good acting. Without it actors are stuck with just words. This film has some terrific actors who can only do so much with this bad script. The only reason I watched it to the end is because I'm a voting member of the Directors Guild. The pacing is slow and laborious. The outside shots are nothing I recognize as New York City. I also didn't know that these wonderful actors, Laura Dern and Hugh Jackman could be so limited by a bad script. Vanessa Kirby and Anthony Hopkins came off much better, maybe because they had fewer lines.

The unforgivable sin that the script for The Son commits is that it treats the parents in this movie as complete idiots. The parents are supposed to be stand ins for most of us in society who are apparently according to this movie are either completely oblivious to the obvious, have never seen or met a mentally ill person, or have never seen a movie or read a book about such. Zeller's The Father was interesting because it presented an empathetic view from the first person of someone with dementia. I think this movie would have been more credible and frankly better had it been shown from The Son's perspective, instead of his parents who make dumb decision after dumb decision to the point that this movie lacks credulity. If you have ever spent time with a mentally ill person the first rule of thumb is they lie. They lie to you and themselves. The second rule is they need professional help that we as parents can't give them. A blind and deaf person knows better than the parents in this movie who come across as caricatures in a badly written movie.

Absolute garbage. Unrealistic. This thing targets the father as the bad guy. INCORRECT. Families are destroyed daily for countless reasons. In America, the prejudiced court system favors the mother, which is completely against the 14th Amendment of the federal Constitution of America. Unrealistic. The father is one of two most important people in a child's life. Do you expect the audience to believe the lie that this father wasn't involved in Nicholas' life all of those years? That Nicholas became so troubled that he ended himself? Unrealistic. Not reality. In an age of left-wing agenda, do you comprehend that an intelligent person would believe this rubbish? No. No to the left. No to all that is evil from the left. True waste of 2 hours.

This is 100% the worst movie I have ever seen in my life. Not only was it sad and difficult to watch, but the worst part of it was that there was absolutely no growth in anybody's perspective or way of looking at the world. It was just pure criticism of somebody who wasn't feeling well. I'm disappointed that such big-name actors didn't use this opportunity to educate people on mental health and how to have emotionally mature conversations with each other. The parents just blamed and criticized the kid, which inevitably led to his suicide. They were workaholics, and did nothing to spend more time with him or ask him actual questions, instead, they just repeated themselves of. Why aren't you feeling better already, and what's wrong with you? The psychiatrist was even worse, telling the parents and the kid that he was incredibly sick and pitting them against each other. If your point was to highlight the damaging effects of the current mental health system, you did that, but you also contributed to the perpetuation of it. Please do not waste your time or energy watching this movie.

Sorry...drop that over privileged kid in the Sudan where kids are starving to death and I bet he'd appreciate his brownstone and millionaire father then! Big eye roll! The lack of parenting is another eyeroll. Anthony Hopkins character was the other extreme but a healthy dose of get over yourself would work here! Glad the kid called the new wife on her bs but Jackman should have done the same when she was like life moves on. I would have decked her right in the mouth if she said that about my dead kid. Anyway...spoiled rotten and no clue about real life would make anyone 'depressed'

Getting a divorce? BOTH of you had better talk you your kids and MAKR SURE THEY are ok. It's not rocket science...

Typical story about a father who is evil and a mother who is happless and has done nothing wrong.

Acting is truly superb, but the movie overall is boring and unenventful.

Typical story about a father who is evil and a mother who is happless and has done nothing wrong.

Acting is truly superb, but the movie overall is boring and unenventful.

Typical story about a father who is evil and a mother who is happless and has done nothing wrong.

Acting is truly superb, but the movie overall is boring and unenventful.

Typical story about a father who is evil and a mother who is happless and has done nothing wrong.

Acting is truly superb, but the movie overall is boring and unenventful.

Typical story about a father who is evil and a mother who is happless and has done nothing wrong.

Acting is truly superb, but the movie overall is boring and unenventful.

This is a very por quality movie, the script is not the best.

I was watching the movie because of the great actors but it was a waste of talent for this movie.

The actor who played Nicholas didn't do any favor to the character. I was actually annoyed by the way this guy acted in the role of Nicholas. Completely fake played, I wonder how come this guy played this role?

The direction of the movie, bad again. Completely low quality everything of this movie using great actors to catch the attention.

I was watching the movie until the end and I am sorry for the time.

I gave 1 star because I didn't have the option to give 0.